The British director Steve McQueen was labelled a "an embarrassing doorman and garbage man", by a prominent contrarian film critic in an alarming heckling incident at the New York Critics Circle awards last night.

The 12 Years a Slave film-maker was targeted by CityArts editor Armond White as he picked up the best director prize for his harrowing Oscar-tipped slavery drama, according to Variety. He did not react to the barb.

White, a controversial former host of the ceremony, began heckling from his table as soon as McQueen took to the stage to accept the prize. He shouted: "You're an embarrassing doorman and garbage man. Fuck you. Kiss my ass."

Director Steve McQueen at the New York Film Critics Circle awards on 6 January. Photograph: Charles Norfleet/FilmMagic

The journalist, who is African American, is known for his refusal to follow the critical consensus. McQueen's drama is one of the most heralded films of the year and is expected to be a major Oscar contender in March. Along with David O Russell's American Hustle, it leads the charge for the Golden Globes with seven nominations.White clearly sees things differently, as he made clear via a review of 12 Years a Slave last October. "Depicting slavery as a horror show, McQueen has made the most unpleasant American movie since William Friedkin's 1973 The Exorcist," opined the critic.

"That's right, 12 Years a Slave belongs to the torture porn genre with Hostel, The Human Centipede and the Saw franchise but it is being sold (and mistaken) as part of the recent spate of movies that pretend 'a conversation about race'. The only conversation this film inspires would contain howls of discomfort."

New York film critic Armond White. Photograph: D Dipasupil/FilmMagic

White has a habit of criticising winners at the New York awards. As host in 2011 he aimed barbs at victors Annette Bening and Michelle Williams, and the following year he is said to have jeered Robert DeNiro and Viola Davis during their stints on stage.

McQueen's film stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as the historical figure Solomon Northup, a New Yorker sold into slavery on the plantations of Louisiana in 1841 after being kidnapped in Washington DC. It also stars Michael Fassbender as a sadistic plantation owner and producer Brad Pitt in a minor role as an abolitionist.